School Celebrates Its Roots and Its Growth

A quarter of a century ago, Odessa Cox began lobbying tirelessly for a college for the predominantly minority neighborhoods in South Los Angeles.

At one point, she recalled recently, she surveyed students in all the area’s high schools and found that many of them would go to college if they could get there on foot or by bicycle.

She won the battle in 1967, when Los Angeles Southwest College was born, two years after the Watts riots. And when the meadow-like campus on Imperial Boulevard got its first--and so far only--permanent building in 1973, it was named in her honor.

On Thursday, when Cox took the microphone at ground-breaking ceremonies for a $7-million technical education center, she got a standing ovation.

“It feels so good to see the things we have fought for for so many years finally coming to pass,” Cox told the gathering of students, campus staff members and Los Angeles and California community college officials.

Just over three years ago, there was little to celebrate at the struggling little college. In 1986, the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees ousted its president. Graffiti and litter marred its sleek, glass-and-concrete building. Enrollment had plunged from 8,000 to 3,000. The year before, two government watchdog agencies had recommended closing the college.

Today, enrollment has risen to 6,000, the college has expanded its course offerings, begun aggressive student recruitment programs and pursued partnerships with nearby aerospace and other firms. Its president, Thomas G. Lakin, talks about making it “the model inner-city institution of higher education in this nation.”

“Southwest College has enjoyed a remarkable resurgence in the last three years,” said community college board President Lindsay Conner, who hails Lakin as a “great leader who has energized a whole group of people.”

Lakin cleaned up the campus, worked with surrounding high schools and community agencies to find students and designed programs suited to the students’ needs and interests.

“He instilled a real sense of serving the customer, so a person coming onto campus finds a clean, attractive, friendly place,” Conner said.

Thursday’s ground breaking was accompanied by announcement of a partnership with the city of Los Angeles to establish an international trade studies program on campus. Additionally, IBM announced that it will spend $500,000 on computer equipment for courses that can be used to train IBM employees, as well as Southwest’s students.

Start of the technical center marks the beginning of an ambitious campus building program. Gov. George Deukmejian’s proposed state budget includes funds for a $13.6-million physical education complex. Also planned but not yet funded are an arts and community center and a student services center.

David Mertes, chancellor of the 107-campus California Community Colleges system, said Southwest’s expansion is “symbolic of the increasingly important role of community colleges in the economic development of the state.”

The only school in the statewide system with a virtually 100% minority enrollment, Southwest’s student population is beginning to reflect the demographic changes in the surrounding neighborhoods. While it once had a nearly all-black student body, the college now has an enrollment that is 70% black, 25% Latino and 5% Asian.

The number of Latinos attending Southwest has shot up from 250 only 1 1/2 years ago to 1,500 now, said Herman Bacchus, dean of student services.

Bacchus said about one-third of Southwest students need financial aid to stay in school. Although about half are recent high school graduates, the average student is about 30 years old, he said. Many are working parents returning to school to hone job skills or get new career training. Among the school’s most popular programs are nursing and electronics, he said.

Less than 10% of its students transfer to four-year colleges. “We’ve taken a bad rap for that,” Bacchus said, “but not all our students intend to go on to a four-year college. We have many who have ‘transferred’ successfully to the workplace. The goals of our students are extremely diverse.”

For 23-year-old Sabrina Heron, a young mother who works part time in a campus office and takes courses in child development, Southwest is the route to her goal of becoming a teacher.

“It’s like a family here because everybody cares about everybody else.” Heron said. “They really encourage you, push you to do well, but they also take the time to help you.”